They walked for another hour as Jack picked Monty's brain amid a renewed desire to learn and progress. He had noticed a few of the [Wraithcap Fungus] and [Rigor Toadstool] clusters as they had been moving but decided against stopping.

  “Okay, so, last question for a while, rift shards. Are they like something physical? Can you just buy them?” Jack asked.

  It had been in his mind for a while as an alternative to risking his life in hundreds of rifts. He understood a little more about the universe's currency now and he could become very, very rich without much risk at all. If he could sit in a room and charge crystals all day so he could end up shooting fireballs, that seemed like the best option for him personally.

  “Hmm I can see where you are going, Jack. Kind of? The rift core breaks into physical pieces, yes. They can be taken outside of the rift with no problem but they have a short shelf life and they lose potency quickly. After about a month it will be about a tenth of a full charge. That being said, rich people do occasionally camp a vessel outside a rift as people go in and immediately bring them rift shards.”

  Monty kept his head moving while scanning the area as they walked.

  “There is no issue with just purchasing rift shards if you can afford it, which while you could, it would be very suspect as to how. No, the issue is more of a quality thing. You could still achieve the higher Tier body modifications, but the quality of the traits would be massively reduced. The Origin doesn't like that.” Monty said.

  Jack remembered the voice that spoke to him during the induction, he still found it hard to imagine that there was some god-like entity that could watch him at any point. That must be how religious people back in his world felt, which explained why it was never for him; the thought creeped him out. Monty’s voice dragged him out of his thoughts.

  “Best rule of thumb is if you are achieving a higher tier body modification, you should either have skills of a Tier equal or higher than your base tier. Or you should have done something noteworthy, something the Origin could be interested in. Otherwise you might get offered a trait that lets you change the colour of your urine.” Monty said with a straight face.

  “Hmm, that seems oddly specific… Be talented or memorable? Does that mean I shouldn’t raise my Tier before I level up a skill?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t think the first tier will be an issue for you Jack, everything up until this point will have been enough to count as entertaining I think. If not, well, being part of a two-man team, to close a rift that neither of you have the correct frequency to utilise is a feat in and of itself." Monty said.

  Jack nodded as he thought about that, if there were grades to the traits you were offered when you raised your Tier then he wanted the best. The gamer in him wanted to do everything possible to make sure his trait offerings were the highest grade possible. Being an average talent and a scaredy-cat probably limited his chances for combat heroics but maybe he could get sidekick points for Monty’s achievements?

  “Wait, you said the shards last outside of the rift, what happens when the rift core is destroyed? Obviously it doesn't just implode because well… you are still alive but… yeah?” Jack asked.

  Monty laughed replying. “The rift will normally be stable for a week or two after the core is destroyed, it will start to lose cohesion from the centre and expand outwards. As long as you start heading for the exit within a day or two you should be fine. It can still be dangerous though, destroying the core doesn't affect the creatures already on the floor. They will still exist, some might be weakened or sent into a rage but they are still a threat so don’t think it will be a relaxed adventure after the core is destroyed.”

  “Ok so is it best to lug that crystal over there around now or try to find something on our way back out?” Jack asked as he pointed to an outcropping of [Dark Quartz] in the distance. There seemed to be many more of the things Rummi had told him to look out for as they approached the centre of the rift.

  Monty glanced over where Jack was pointing and nodded while pursing his lips.

  “Well… I doubt you have the skill to break it up into smaller pieces safely. At Tier 1 with no strength enhancements… you couldn't move that at all. If I carry it, I can’t use mana to defend you unless I drop it. If I were to drop it then it would probably be damaged and worthless.” Monty smiled over his shoulder at Jack.

  “Fine, no need to be a dick about it… a 'no' would have been fine,” Jack said.

  “Sorry, sorry, it’s fun to get you back occasionally. This is not a normal run, normally we have bigger teams and there are people on the team who are there solely to gather and harvest. For now I think we wait until we are on the way out and grab anything we can before we leave.” Monty said.

  Jack agreed, the thought of carrying around potentially fragile biohazard mushrooms while untrained and fighting feral wombats and scary wolves was not something he was excited for.

  They continued for another few hours with Monty checking his map disc more often the further they got in. They had to stop a few more times as creatures approached them while they were traveling. Jack was constantly purging but Monty decided against absorbing it into large pools after their last incident.

  They were attacked by two large wolf-like creatures, which now that Jack could see clearer, were very different looking than the giant death hound. These looked more like diseased feral wolves than rotting zombie dogs. They were lean and powerful with sharp fangs and patchy fur that was molting in places.

  The wolves stood no chance, Monty simply shockwave punched both of them as they bounded towards him and half of them just disappeared, turned to mush. Two other encounters were much smaller groups of the terror wombats, in groups of three and four they didn’t pose a threat to Jack let alone Monty.

  They eventually found the location that Monty was searching for on his map and set up shop. Monty led Jack over to a spot in the middle of a slight rise in the soil. There was a jagged crescent shape of tree remains scattered around them. Monty set up the light crystal again at Jack's feet and started making small markings in the soil with a stick he had broken off a tree.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  At this point, everything that had happened the last day had caught up with Jack as he realised it had been about fifteen hours since they had entered the rift. So much had happened and between walking and fearing for his life, he was exhausted. He had to keep purging while they were here though, Monty needed that Mana to keep them safe, so he tried to power through but his eyes slowly started to close.

  He groggily forced them back open, forcing himself to keep purging. He had been doing it for so long he barely even had to think about it at this point. He focused on his breathing and tried to just follow the flow of mana in his body for each cycle, giving him something to keep his mind on.

  He felt a hand on his shoulder and thought he might have dozed off for a second. He blinked his eyes and looked around, and he noticed that the clearing was very different from what he remembered.

  Four of the seven trees behind him had now been regrown, their large canopy trapping in some of the light and giving a sense of height to the voidless expanse above him. Some of the branches of the trees had started to intertwine as they grew out to form a protective wall behind them. Off to his right, it seemed as if Monty had driven two massive wooden pillars into the soil and was building some sort of wall or fence there.

  Jack blinked a few times and shook his head. It must have been more than a few minutes, he felt much more refreshed than a small nap would leave him. On top of the work Monty had already done, he must have been running low on Mana and needed Jack to wake up to keep purging. He sent his senses inside to work out what happened to his mana and to get the flow started again, only it was still cycling and purging.

  Jack sat up and looked at Monty in shock.

  “Did you do something? How long was I asleep for?” Jack asked.

  “Hmm, no, I didn’t do anything, I thought it was strange you seemed to be emitting mana still but it wasn't dangerous so I let you sleep. I think it was about three hours?” Monty said, sitting down next to Jack.

  Jack was in shock, he had found purging was getting easier and easier as he continued to do it, still to be able to continue while he was sleeping was a pretty big jump. He thought about it for a second and then noticed a strange niggle at the back of his mind. A thought occurred to him, and he brought up his status window and checked his skills.

  SKILLS:

  —--------------------------------

  Mana Sense (Internal): Tier 0

  Shockwave: Tier 0

  Purge Mana: Tier 1 - Skill Upgrade **

  Damn, there it was his first upgraded skill. Too bad it was the one with no combat potential but still an upgraded skill was still great. He hoped that it would help tip him over the edge for a higher grade trait if he wasn’t already there.

  He focused on the asterisk and willed the upgrade information to expand.

  [Purge Mana]:

  Tier 0 - Allows the user to purge mana from their system. The purged mana is gently pushed out of their body and into the environment surrounding them.

  Tier 1 upgrade - Reduces the focus required to maintain a purge. Once activated it will continue at the set pace until the user's system is empty of mana or the effect is canceled. [User did not acknowledge upgrade in time - Origin selected upgrade option most applicable based on history]

  The last part was interesting, almost like he might have missed the upgrade notification when he fell asleep. He would be mad about missing his first skill upgrade experience but reading the upgrade he couldn’t be upset about it.

  The upgrade seemed extremely useful for him, not too much for anyone else but for him? If he set his purge to match his vortex he would be able to purge nonstop, even when asleep as evidenced by recent events. It also meant that he could keep the purge active while in combat even if he needed to prepare a shockwave.

  Actually, that would probably mean the purge could empty his reserves. He would need to work on modifying his vortex on the fly, similar to how it worked when Monty put a weave on him. Monty coughed and Jack looked up at him.

  “Sorry, kinda big deal I am trying to process at the moment. How long do you normally have to acknowledge a skill upgrade?” Jack asked.

  “Oh, that’s amazing, it must have been Purge right? Umm I don’t know, at least an hour. Most people are actively upgrading or using the skill when they are presented with an upgrade option so they do it fairly quickly. Once you acknowledge it you don’t have to make your choice straight away. What happened to your Purge?” Monty asked, a strange excitement in his eyes.

  Monty seemed to genuinely find excitement in anything to do with the skills or powers given by the Origin.

  “Well it seems I missed it somehow? The Origin selected the upgrade on my behalf, something about being based on my history? I kinda wanted to go through picking it myself but I can’t complain with what it chose.” Jack said, purposefully withholding the information Monty wanted.

  “Hmm strange, it might have happened before but I am honestly not aware of anyone that has had that happen. It said the Origin selected the upgrade for you?” Monty stared at Jack expectantly.

  Jack nodded.

  Monty squinted.

  Jack laughed and gave in, finally telling Monty about his upgrade, reading out the description exactly as he saw it.

  “Wow. Jack that is an amazing upgrade for you, honestly it would be almost useless for anyone else. The only person I know who has spent more time theorising about skills and their potential uses than me would be Turrel. I don't know if even he could think of a way that could be good for anyone other than you.” Monty said scratching his head.

  “Actually, that is an interesting point. I don’t know if many people would have increased their purge skill beyond the first few Tiers. It is really only used to train mana control and for those few lucky people with more than one frequency.

  “You might have a chance to expand the skill more than anyone else I know of. Skills have a major upgrade at Tier 5 and Tier 10. It could become something unique if this is anything to go by.

  “Ohh one more thing, we can probably try to up your amplification and purge while we are in camp now. If you don’t have to focus on it, we can adjust it near your maximum and just leave it. You are at about 40% right now right?” Monty asked.

  Jack thought about it and nodded, if he didn’t have to think about keeping it steady he could up it. If he doubled his output he would be one cycle away from starting to overheat but Monty could help until he got it right. It would speed their preparations up by a lot.

  “Ok, let's do that, then you can tell me what you need me to do to help prepare this place.” Jack said as he started to adjust his vortex to increase his amplification. It took a few tries but they ended up settling for Jack purging at around 70% of his capacity each cycle which was about five seconds.

  Over the course of the next few hours with the increased level of mana in the area Monty grew more trees and created materials for another wooden wall. Monty explained his plan to Jack and while he thought it was a little bit crazy, he had to admit it could work.

  Jack and Monty worked together and eventually completed the base structure that would form the foundation of their battle plan for the Rift Guardian. They sat down together and ate their rations, letting the mana in the area build up again as they traded ideas and improvements to the plan.

  Jack thought this might even end up being fun, danger and death aside that is.